Triathlon @52 degrees= Duathlon

The sprint triathlon I was supposed to do last weekend ended up happening in terrible weather. The lake was 52 degrees, which was 10 degrees colder than the Lake Washington test swim we did the week before. It was also raining and the race organizers were concerned enough about the six people that would get hypothermia that they cut all the swim length in half, which meant mine was supposed to be 1/4 mile instead of 1/2 mile. I was bummed because I had really wanted to push myself to do the 1/2 mile swim, but it wasn't going to happen. Turned out no swim was going to happen for me - I got a sleeveless wetsuit and they told us to seriously reconsider if we had no sleeves. The idea of freezing and then biking in the rain, where you're at speed and it's cold anyway sounded terrible. They set up a duathlon instead so we could do the 12 mile bike and then run 2.8 miles without the swim. 19 people took that option, 12 females including me. I beat all those girls. Does this mean I'm the best girl of the wimps? Yes, I think so, because all the hardcore people probably stayed in the triathlon. Anyhow, regardless of who I beat, I was really happy with my times.

Shelley Stromholt

Age 31 F

Total Time: 1:03:41

Race Place: 5 (5th place!)

Division Place (girls my age):1

Bike Time: 0:37:53

Bike Place: 6

Run Time: 0:23:33

Run Place: 5

That ink is still visible on my legs a week later.

Katie did the swim in about six minutes (she swam at WSU) which if you don't know, is RIDICULOUS, and then passed me on the second lap of the run to come in just before me, even though she swam before she did both of my legs. She's amazing and came in first in her division. Wally and Kennet did good race support, standing in the rain for an hour and a half, taking pics/modeling, and getting us post-race burritos.